One of my first 'spensive VSTi purchases a few years back: Pianoteq (using the upright piano addon I bought a few months ago). The thing first made its cubus debut with Für Alali but with every new version the realism just gets better and better.

What's even more remarkable is there's no samples used whatsoever in the plugin, it's all physical modelling! The installer is only like 25mb

I should've guessed the background noise is on purpose knowing your previous works and level of production.But still - at the beginning it's kinda too much - maybe it's just me - in the second half it lays in better.

Ross wrote:Crikey! Yeah, it's much more convincing the than trillion-or-so GB one I have, Ivory. Which is based on samples...

Aye, I'm absolutely fascinated by the level of quality we're at with physical modelling synthesis now (I have all the AAS plugins that specialise in percussive and string modelling too). Plus the beauty of a model over a sample library (other than the obvious install size) is that everything is infinitely modifiable: In Pianoteq I can adjust the size of the piano, position of all the mics, hammer force on the strings, angle of the lid (from fully shut to open) etc.

Forgot to mention, totally rebuilt the site from the ground up - Now properly integrated with the bandcamp site and as a result lots more stuff available to download (and in better quality) - http://www.ilovecubus.co.uk/